The Eye Surgery
About seven years ago, I got LASIK eye surgery. The story of how God worked that out really deserves it’s own separate post, so I’ll just give the highlights for now.
The best LASIK eye surgeon in the world, the one that essentially wrote the textbook on bladeless eye surgery, has a PhD in laser physics from MIT and an MD from Harvard…Yes, my God worked it out so that surgeon could work on my badly “astigmatized” eyes. And I can see right now without the aid of glasses or contacts because of him.
I remember the consultation and the day of the actual surgery. I was mostly excited, but I was admittedly a little nervous. But as I mentioned, God literally placed me in the best hands ever. I learned in the consultation that my astigmatism was very acute, and that I either had to get the surgery or stop wearing contacts altogether and switch to glasses. Decades of wearing contact lenses had begun to damage my corneas. One of the topics we discussed during the consultation and after the surgery were the potential side effects of the LASIK procedure, one was a glare when driving at night, and the other side effect was dry eye. Neither of these were deal breakers.
So after the surgery was done, I had to keep my eyes closed for a while and put special drops in my eyes every 15 minutes at first. The time between drops increased over time.
I went to my follow up appointment, and everything was looking good. The doctor told me that my vision would continue to improve as my eyes continued to heal. I was supposed to come back in a year for a check in. I no longer needed the special drops I had been using right after the surgery. So I left that office on my way to seeing 20/20 and with instructions to use over the counter eye drops for dryness as needed.
Again, the complete miracle of this whole event will have to wait for another time.
Day to Day Eye Maintenance or Lack Thereof
As time went on, my vision did improve. I used the eye drops routinely and would drop by the doctor’s office for my yearly check-ins. After a while, though, I started to slack off in using the eye drops for dryness. I began to feel that my office visits were somewhat unnecessary. The mentions of dry eye and eye fatigue went in one ear and out the other. I purchased the digital eye drops that the eye consultant recommended, and I would use them for a while, but would eventually tapper off.
During a period of transition at work, I lost my health insurance and skipped my yearly visit altogether. And then I failed to reschedule my appointment when I got my insurance back. Year after year would go by and I would think, “I really should make another appointment with my eye doctor,” but something would always distract me, and it would slip my mind again.
Until one day, I made the long overdue call to the eye doctor’s office to schedule a visit.
“Hello, Yes. I had LASIK surgery some years ago. I know it’s been a while, but I want to schedule an appointment,” I confessed to the attendant scheduling my appointment, as if I was waiting to be reprimanded.
“No worries. We’ll get you scheduled as soon as we can,” she replied reassuringly.
And at that visit, both the eye consultant and the optometrist informed me that I had dry eyes, a condition that was affecting the clarity of my vision. It was nothing the eye drops could not address, but I should use the digital eye drops as directed. And I should take a break from looking at screens as often as possible.
If I’m honest, I knew screen time would be hard to curb since I’m on the computer all day for work, and I’m on my phone as much as the next person. So I purchased some blue light blocking glasses to help with eyestrain. But I could definitely use the drops, either in the morning or at night. And I did. I used them consistently…for a while.
But sadly, old habits die hard. I kept expecting my eyes to feel some sort of way before I realized they were dry, but at this point, I had forgotten what normal hydrated eyes felt like. Dry eyes had become my new normal. Every week or two, I would remember the drops and put them in my eyes, only to feel the instant relief of the sudden influx of moisture. And that would satiate me for a while. But eventually, I would skip one day of putting in the drops, and then that became two days. And you know the story by now.
So at my most recent appointment earlier this year, I was surprised to hear that despite me being consistent with the drops for all of one week before my appointment, my eyes were still really dry.
“I’m definitely seeing the affects of dryness,” my optometrist said with concern in his voice as he looked at my eyes with the bright light.
“Have you been using the drops?” he asked.
“Yes, well, um, not everyday.”
“I’m going to suggest that you use eye ointment for severe dry eye. I’ll see if we have some samples. But you need to use this ointment at night right before bedtime because it will make your eyes blurry. It’s almost like putting Vaseline on your eyes. Ok?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“We’ll use this for now. And if we need to prescribe something, we can always do that. And you can come in before your next annual appointment if you need to. You don’t have to wait for the whole year.”
“Ok, thank you.”
I sensed the seriousness in his tone, and the shame of my inattentiveness to my poor little dry eyes rose to the surface.
Because of my laziness, instead of the regular drops, now I had to use the severe dry eye ointment. I felt like a failure, and indeed I had failed myself. I had all the resources and means to maintain my eyes, but I just didn’t. I allowed too many other things to get in the way. And so now, severe dry eye had become my normal.
I followed the doctor’s orders and purchased the severe dry eye ointment. And guess what? I started to use it, and immediately, I felt a difference. My eyes felt, well, moisturized! It was the relief that I didn’t know I needed.
And so I’ve continued to use the eye ointment every night since then, and now my eyes have the perfect amount of moisture at all times.
Sadly, that last sense is not true. I believe you can likely sense a pattern here. Even though I had the new eye cream, had used it and felt relief, my inconsistency crept right back in, and I started skipping nights of applying the ointment.
I couldn’t a watch quick YouTube video or scroll through social media before bed if I put that ointment in. I’d have to close my eyes.
And who really wants to apply that cream that every night?
Do I really need that eye ointment?
I had the cure to my eye condition right there on my nightstand. But I refused to apply it my eyes.
And then it hit me….
Echoes of Laodicea
My whole experience with the LASIK surgery and dry eyes reminded me of the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation. This is the church that Jesus Christ, the Messiah and savior of the world, wants to spue out of his mouth as the King James Version puts it. And spue is almost too kind and dignified of a word. The Greek work translated as spue in the KJV implies that Christ literally wants to vomit that church out of his mouth.
You can read the entire account in Revelation 3:14-22.
I take the historicist method of studying bible prophecy (versus futurism or preterism), and so while I believe that the words the Holy Spirit instructed the Apostle John to write applied to the first century church in Laodicea, I believe they also apply to the church of today, the last church on earth before the second coming of Christ.
Even a surface reading of those verses will lead you to see the similarities to the church today. It’s almost like reading a transcript of the church right now. And the church at Laodicea has a lot of issues…the lukewarm state is the issue that I believe we are most familiar with. No one really likes anything lukewarm. And this lukewarm temperature leaves such a bad taste in Christ’s mouth, the Master wants to throw up.
In addition to being lukewarm, Laodicea is also described as miserable, wretched, poor, blind, and naked. And since the book of Revelation uses a lot of symbolism, we know that these are not physical, but spiritual conditions.
And really the one thing that makes this whole situation worst is that Laodicea doesn’t recognize their wretchedness, their poverty, or their blindness. They actually think they are rich, prosperous, and don’t need anything.
Well, when the faithful and True Witness tells you that you are something, He’s right. And so it’s apparent that Laodicea is not seeing things clearly. They are blind. It’s worth studying each of Laodicea’s issues, but blindness is the one that clearly rang home to me given my whole dry eye experience.
Like me, they have eye issues.
We Were Born Blind
What does it mean to be spiritually blind? I found this definition and though it was helpful:
Spiritual blindness is an internal condition. It occurs when we focus our attention upon our own pride, desire, or limited understanding.
Jesus sheds some light on this subject in Matthew chapter 6.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” – Matthew 6:22-23
And we know that Christ is not referring to physical eyes or physical sight. He’s using the eye as a metaphor for our spiritual understanding.
If we lack spiritual understanding, then every aspect of our lives will be in darkness. And the worst part is that we can be in this dark state without realizing it. Darkness that you don’t realize is darkness is, well, really dark.
This is the Laodicean condition: undetected blindness
I can’t think of a better example to illustrate this than the Pharisees who confronted the man born blind, but whom Jesus healed. You can find this account in John chapter 9. That passage is rich. I’ll just highlight a few points.
This man was physically blind. In fact, he had been blind from birth and knew that he could not see. This man encountered the Messiah who (1) rubbed clay on his eyes and (2) told him to go wash his eyes in the nearby pool. This man knew his condition, heard Jesus’ instruction, and obeyed. And what happened? A miracle occurred. His physical sight was restored. In fact, the miraculous nature of this occurrence was made plain when the man addressed the Pharisees in verse 32, “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.”
When his neighbors asked him what happened, he said plainly in verse 11, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to [the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
The neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees who were angry because this man was healed on the Sabbath day. As the formerly blind man testified about what happened to him, the Pharisees were split on the issue. Some said Jesus was a sinner and was not from God because he healed on the Sabbath, and others said that His miracle proved that he was not a sinner. For who could do such a miracle and not be sent from God?
The Pharisees didn’t believe the man was born blind, so they called his parents in to testify. The parents, afraid of the consequences of speaking about the matter, pointed the finger back on their son. And so the Pharisees called him back to testify again. And the man tells them what happened again.
He said emphatically in verse 25, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
It became apparent that the Pharisees were really the blind ones. They refused to see this miracle for what it was and to see Jesus for who He is, despite hearing the man testify twice.
So, they insulted the man and excommunicated him in verse 34, “They answered and said to him, ‘You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?’ And they cast him out.”
This is the essence of spiritual blindness: denying the witness that testifies of who Christ is.
Now I See
Christ is the light of the world, and the Holy Spirit is the witness that testifies of who Christ is. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. The Holy Spirit applies the eye-salve to our eyes so that we can see our sinful condition and turn from it. (See John 16).
The Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes, our spiritual understanding.
The Holy Spirit is the Master Eye Surgeon.
But when we take our eyes off of the light of the world, and refuse the Holy Spirit access to our eyes, we become blind. And how great is that blindness!
Like the Pharisees, we can point out the supposed sins of others, not realizing that we were all born blind, and we need eye salve to see. And because we fail to see our true sinful condition, we fail to invite the only one who can help us see into our hearts. We may have confessed belief at one point, but as time passes, we become self sufficient and self confident in our status.
We can have an attitude of, “I’m good. They are the ones with the issues. Let me help you remove that speck.”
But we have planks in our eyes.
We have dry eyes, but refuse the remedy that has been so easily accessible. We think we are seeing 20/20, but are hopelessly visually impaired.
Thank God that He still loves the church of Laodicea and still offers us the cure that we need.
“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” - Revelation 3:18-20
Christ has our cure. Really, Christ is our cure. And the Holy Spirit wants to take what belongs to Christ and give it to us. He wants to anoint our eyes afresh every day.
Like the man healed from blindness, we have to recognize that we need Him and be willing to receive Him.
That’s how we keep our eyes moisturized.
I’ll let you know how my next eye appointment goes.